Light rail transit sets new ridership record
IT’S a record! THIS was the immediate reaction of the Light Rail Transit Administration (LRTA) officials on Tuesday after learning that they were able to set a new record single-day ridership during Monday’s celebration of the feast of the Black Nazarene.
The LRTA spokesman, lawyer Hernando Cabrera, said that Light Rail Transit-line 1 (LRT- 1) carried a total of 620,987 passengers on January 9, Monday, breaking the previous record of 597,417 passengers that was posted on December 2, 2011.
Line 1 plies the Baclaran (Parañaque City)-muñoz (Quezon City)-baclaran route.
Cabrera said that the latest figure was higher than the 582,989 total passenger count during the Black Nazarene celebration on January 9, 2009.
He added that the recent feast day falling on a Monday, a busy work day, contributed to the high number of LRT- 1 passengers.
“Ang factor kasi niyan yung deboto na sumakay, tapos yung mga naapektuhang pasahero na usually hindi sumasakay ng LRT — yung mga nagbu- bus at may mga sasakyan — eh dahil sa prusyision napilitang sumakay ng LRT [The factor that helped set the new record was that devotees took the LRT- 1 line and those who usually don’t ride the line and those who had cars had to take the route this time because there were no buses to take them to their destinations],” Cabrera told reporters during an interview.
He noted that the passenger turnouts in the 2010 and 2011 feast days were relatively low because both celebrations fell on a weekend.
LRT-1 ferried only 362,912 passengers on January 9, 2010.
Given the expected continuing high liquidity and low interest rate environment, FMIC expects robust activities in the capital markets particularly in refinancing, mergers and acquisitions, debt financing and retail bonds as some conglomerates start to experience single borrower limit restrictions.
“We anticipate more active greenfield sector, particularly in toll roads and power. We also see opportunities with the implementation of the minimum public ownership requirement,” Dispo said.
Meanwhile, yields of government securities may further go down as overseas Filipino workers and business process outsourcing remittances continue to flood the economy.
FMIC sees value in government issuing onshore dollar debt because this is less affected by international events and is considered more stable.
“With government bonds spread across various tenors in smaller volumes, there is value for the government to continue consolidating its debt to create liquid benchmarks,” said Reynaldo Montalbo Jr., FMIC senior vice president and treasury group head. After Nazario’s retirement in 2010, the committee’s task has supposedly been entrusted to a new study committee headed by Marquez.
The high court’s policy to recede in the dark, especially where SALNS of all judiciary personnel are concerned, actually began with Andres B. Narvasa, who served as chief justice from December 8, 1991 to November 30, 1998. The Narvasa court had been marred by reports, including a number authored by the PCIJ, alleging multiple instances of bribery and corruption involving some justices. “The best Supreme Court that money can buy,” legal circles had described the tribunal at the time.
The exposes triggered the early retirement of an associate justice even as the Narvasa court also summoned lawyers it suspected to be among the PCIJ’+S unnamed sources to an inquiry board composed of justices at Padre Faura.
Those who succeeded Narvasa, Hilario G. Davide Jr. ( who served from November 30, 1998 to December 20, 2005), Reynato S. Puno ( who served from December 20, 2005 to May 17, 2010), and Corona ( chief justice since May 2010) followed the practice of secrecy in regard to the SALNS of all judiciary personnel.
To be continued